Lorain Times-Herald Front Page – May 13, 1920

One hundred and one years ago, the big story on the front page of the May 13, 1920 Lorain Times-Herald was the escape of a murder suspect, Leroy Duffy, and three other men from the county jail in Akron.

As the article noted, "The men used fine steel saws, thought to have been smuggled into them by relatives.

“They sawed through the bars of their cells, passed down the hallway, sawed through the bars of the cell block and went on their way to the cellar where they lifted a casement window and were free.”

It took a while, but an article in the Akron Beacon Journal on April 1, 1921 reported Dunlap’s arrest (as well as one of the other men) in Florida. A girlfriend of one of the four men had been the one who smuggled the saws into the Summit County jail – earning a sentence of her own in the Marysville women’s reformatory.

Elsewhere on the Lorain Times-Herald front page, there isn’t the usual mayhem. Sorry about that, Chief.

It’s pretty humdrum stuff. Lorain was setting a goal of increasing its population to 75,000 by 1930; the big Miller Evangelistic Campaign was in its closing days in Lorain; the Lake Shore Electric railway was gearing up to make $200,000 worth of improvements in its street railway system; and plans for paving Colorado Avenue from the railroad crossing to the Cromwell Steel Company plant were being made.

The best item on the page was the little item near the bottom, “INNOCENT MAN PRISONER DAILY.” It noted, “Although he has committed no offense, Lorain has a man who has been locked in jail every day for the past 5 years.

“He’s Alex Cooley, jail janitor.

“Cooley spends a half hour or more each day behind  locked doors and barred windows. His duties call for cleaning the prison each morning. 

"“They have to lock me in says, says Cooley, “or the prisoners might escape."

"“I don’t mind it,” he said, “Except when they forget about me some times.””